Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Celebrating Guru Pournima in Ganeshpuri

The time of celebrating Guru Pournima is approaching in the village of Ganeshpuri. The temple of Bhagwan Nityananda was being decked out with flowers yesterday as we stopped by for a meditation at his Samadhi Mandir. The outside has been made into a large covered patio with bamboo and plastic. They are expecting around 700,000 devotees to arrive on July 7th. 24 hour chanting starts today and continues until that date. Already we have seen some new faces of beautiful visiting saints. There have been so many people all over India, and beyond that have been touched by Nityananda. We have the constant pleasure of meeting them. Buildings are getting new coats of paint, such as the Shiva Temple, which seems additonally charged with a blessing. I have been told it will be a special time for us.

My Iindian friend, Geeta, asked us to come and meet her parents when they come for Guru Pournima. They used to live next door to Nityananda and cooked porridge and lemon pickle for him, which he supposedly loved. Her parents also took care of one of Nityananda's major devotees, and then inherited his house when he passed on. This house is next door to Nityananda's ashram and Shaligram's Samadi Mandir. Geeta and her husband and son live there now.

This photo was taken of our Puja Altar from one of our Thursday Guru Pujas held in the dome during pre-monsoon weather. It rather looks like a collage and I am using as my computer desktop. We can no longer meditate in the dome do to the rains. We have removed the dome curtains so that they will not be spoiled during the heavy rains. But where are these heavy rains? Tomorrow is July 1st , and still only mild rains have come.

We have been busy creating a special meditation room to be used daily by all those living and visiting us at Fire Mountain. The air conditioner can keep us cool in the hot humid weather. Inspired by our time in Thailand, we have painted the walls gorgeous shades of gold, deep blue and magenta. We bought thick fabrics of rich texture and color to match the walls. A lending library and bookstore will be housed in the bookshelf and recordings of Mark Griffin's (http://www.hardlight.org/) meditation instruction will be available to listen to during certain hours. We wanted to create a handsome indoor space for meditation when the dome is unusable, as it is during the monsoon season.

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About Us

The Fire Mountain Retreat Center combines the best of old and new India. Located in the village of Nimboli, only 80 kilometers from Mumbai, the ashram-style setting combines ancient sacred practices with 21st century convenience.
Fire Mountain Retreat Center takes its name from nearby Mount Mandagni, which means "eternal flame." Great spiritual masters have practiced sadhana on and near this mountain since ancient times. The mission of our retreat site is to support these timeless sacred practices such as meditation, pujas and yagnas, and the location of Fire Mountain provides a profound spiritual atmosphere to do so.